Friday, March 7, 2008 at 2:02am
Remove this cup
Column: For His Glory
"Remove this cup" is a phrase uttered by Jesus while under the bone-crushing pressure felt in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before His death on a Roman cross. What was so horrible about the contents of this cup that made our captain recoil in temporary horror? The intensity of the moment causing His body to drip sweat of blood as capillaries popped from the pressure. That cup, what was in the cup? It's a cup the Bible says we will all have to face if we are not found in Christ.
As I studied this cup, the first clue lead me to Revelations 14:9, 10, which says, "Then a third angel followed them, shouting, Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God's anger. It has been poured full strength into God's cup of wrath."
Imagine facing the full wrath of God? If Jesus bore our sins and sin is an abomination to God, than the cup Jesus temporarily recoiled from was the unmitigated cup of God's wrath without mercy. Imagine the pressure a person would feel, knowing they were about to be brutally murdered and intensify that by a million times, and it still would not compare to this cup. This cup is staggering and a cup we do not want. It is a cup that will drive you mad. "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad. ... " (Jeremiah 25:15, 16). Imagine staggering and losing your mind, not because it snuck up on you like a mental disease, but rather because of the realization that Jesus was really your salvation and now it's too late. Death only awaits, you know, eternal death, separation from God, punishment for your sins, the second death (Cf. Revelations 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).
Many people feel that the fire of hell is what is to be feared, but after studying it out, I say it is this cup. The cup of wrath without mercy is what awaits those who do not answer the invitation of God. "For the LORD holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs." (Psalms 75:8).
Jesus drank this cup for you and me; that is why He was so horrified at its content. Nevertheless, He drank every bit of it in order to offer you the chance to know Him who is eternal life. Take the gift, for He already has taken the cup that was meant for us. Take the gift, because His blood was shed for you. Take the gift, because He will come back soon and without you it will not be the same for Him. Take the gift because "God loved the world so much that He gave His Son our cup, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
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Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He graduated in December 2007 with a master of divinity degree from Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Gio Marin.
As I studied this cup, the first clue lead me to Revelations 14:9, 10, which says, "Then a third angel followed them, shouting, Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God's anger. It has been poured full strength into God's cup of wrath."
Imagine facing the full wrath of God? If Jesus bore our sins and sin is an abomination to God, than the cup Jesus temporarily recoiled from was the unmitigated cup of God's wrath without mercy. Imagine the pressure a person would feel, knowing they were about to be brutally murdered and intensify that by a million times, and it still would not compare to this cup. This cup is staggering and a cup we do not want. It is a cup that will drive you mad. "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad. ... " (Jeremiah 25:15, 16). Imagine staggering and losing your mind, not because it snuck up on you like a mental disease, but rather because of the realization that Jesus was really your salvation and now it's too late. Death only awaits, you know, eternal death, separation from God, punishment for your sins, the second death (Cf. Revelations 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).
Many people feel that the fire of hell is what is to be feared, but after studying it out, I say it is this cup. The cup of wrath without mercy is what awaits those who do not answer the invitation of God. "For the LORD holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs." (Psalms 75:8).
Jesus drank this cup for you and me; that is why He was so horrified at its content. Nevertheless, He drank every bit of it in order to offer you the chance to know Him who is eternal life. Take the gift, for He already has taken the cup that was meant for us. Take the gift, because His blood was shed for you. Take the gift, because He will come back soon and without you it will not be the same for Him. Take the gift because "God loved the world so much that He gave His Son our cup, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
— — —
Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He graduated in December 2007 with a master of divinity degree from Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Gio Marin.